The present disclosure relates to a thrust reverser for a turbofan engine and more particularly to a drag link assembly of the thrust reverser.
Turbofan engines are known to include a fan section that produces a bypass airflow for providing the majority of engine propulsion and a combustion or core airflow for compression, mixing with fuel, combustion and expansion through a turbine to drive the fan section. The engines further include nacelles that partially surround the core of the engine, include a pylon for securing the engine to a structure such as an aircraft wing, and provide an annular bypass airflow duct for directing the bypass airflow in a rearward direction to produce forward propulsion. The nacelles may further include thrust reversers capable of redirecting the bypass airflow from the rearward direction to, at least partially, a forward direction thus producing a rearward propulsion. As an example, such rearward propulsion may serve to decelerate the forward motion of an aircraft soon after landing.
Thrust reversers may include a plurality of blocker doors capable of changing positions through a kinematic linkage from a stowed position for forward propulsion to a deployed position for rearward propulsion. In one style of thrust reverser, the linkage may include a drag link that is pivotally mounted to a blocker door on one end and to the inner fixed structure (which forms an aerodynamic fairing inside of the fan duct around the engine) on its opposite end. The pivotal joint between the drag link and the inner fixed structure is formed with a fitting. The fitting may add to the overall drag of the thrust reverser. This invention primarily concerns reducing the drag created by such a fitting.